My long-forgotten ory peeked out from beains. tions McInnes posed during  ury, and fragments of tions began intruding into my life. e e imitation of Simon and Garfunkel  of my mout I ripping, and art over after a brief apology to t o t   on tep. A pograp day of sc. Id see myself superimposed over ted in t  er, but not rying to remember my o t German boy stole aime I drew near.

    to substitute anotant past, I o ternative fingerings and to myself, puss aed ion of becoming a composer again even as college aspirations faded o abstract patterns, en I o Oscars after a fe of coffee, and scribble tations resonating in my o imagine an orcra in t empty barroom, and tic confusion over entative steps back to t, to my true nature. I spent ages looking for t, and tossing it aion  time as my own name.

    tudio most mornings. Oscar arrived around luncernoon for reime for me to cover up my  tice o begin on an early summer afternoon in 67. George, Jimmy, and Oscar experimented  tly smoking and drinking. t of screet. truck pulled up outside, and a moment later tion, Leopped in tting doalk ion oo soft to be over ts sorroo ears, and George and Jimmy and I c knoe o say or do. Oscar led o tall s, ion mark, ing on the rail, so we crowded around our friends.

    quot;; Oscar said. quot;Since last nig looking for  t found  years old, man.quot;

    quot; does ; George asked. quot;s  see ;

    Leraig;er my brot t-looking kid you could find. Brohe ground.

    quot;; I asked.

    quot; and s pants, dark blue—op Caylors.  back of ter dinner last nig ill lig. And t; urned to ;I tried calling you all over t;

    Oscar pursed ;Im so sorry, man. I  getting ;

    George began o t;No time for recriminations. eve got a missing kid to find.quot;

    Off  to toget in t. truck bumped and rattled along a firebreak cut timberline, and o a stop in a cloud of dust. team  a mile due  from my  as far into t as to drive toment leaned against ttle of cola in enormous gulps,  arce s. Our party got out of t smell of rolled among toain, ted us. Grassfall, angle of ure of t. I follo pat tain and ruck until t.

    A bloodance, taking up a scent. e trudged along single file for several  by ternoon. Every fes, someone  for ting in t. e were ced wop of a small rise.

    quot;tting us no; ?quot;

    t, I could not counter  seeming a coward.

    quot;Lets meet back  nine.quot; itermined sobriety, Oscar studied tcing off moments to ed and cime go by.

    quot;Four ty,quot;  last.

    quot;Ive got four ty-five,quot; said George.

    And almost simultaneously, I said, quot;ty after.quot;

    quot;ty-five of five,quot; said Jimmy.

    Leo ;ts funny—my copped.quot; ared at its face. quot;Seven ty. ts rig.quot;

    Eac t of temporal confusion. Oscar resumed ching.

    quot;Okay, okay, on my signal, set your c is noy-five.quot;

    e fiddled ems and dials. I ime was sucer all.

    quot;e direction. George and Jimmy, you e to eac; ed by means of s of t;Mark your trail to find your  back  nine. Itll be getting dark by t, go back to truck.quot;

    e  our separate ramping t dared enter tall trees  like a blanket t smelled of rot and decay. itep I took, cracking t edly, not expecting a reply. tillness brougten sensation, t trapped, timeless, in ty minutes into my searc dorunk of a scrub pine. My s, damp ion, clung to my skin, and I took out a o mop my brocree trunks, pipping taccato signals. Along one limb of ts raced back and forterious cargo in one direction as oto tter of fallen leaves, small red floers of silvery moss. I lifted a log, and a rotting ness lay beneat, pill bugs curled into balls and long-legged spiders maddened at tion of t, glistening o tom of tried to imagine  life  to me. I lost track of time. A glance at my cartled me, for nearly tood up, called out t. Moving deeper into tranced by t of trunks and limbs, green leaves as plentiful as raindrops. My every step  familiar, and I expected to be startled by somet it  as a deep sleep. t, scant life beyond trees and plants, tir of table tiny animals  and decay. I stumbled upon a small creek gurgling over stones, meandering noer and drank.

    t rolled over a bed dotted ones and rocks. On tones rable, but at terline and beloer cone, revealing facets and extraordinarily rice variety. Millennia of interplay iful, and tones er as ered its flourbulent its stilled predisposition. Symbiosis made t it  t of t, ime, but I also lived in t I er and t. ion filled me tom of to me as if a line of notes, and I could tern in my s for a pencil to copy it does disappeared, I irring among trees besteps racing the brush.

    quot;; I asked, and  opped moving. I tried to make myself s and inconspicuous by crouc cut by t  impossible to see tension of anticipation, sounds t iced became amplified. Crickets sang under rocks. A cicada cried and t silent. I  odds ay and capture tes in ter. A breeze t first, tsteps resumed, ture bolted, cras.  ed, I convinced myself t a deer artled by my presence, or per  by mistake. turbance unnerved me, so I quickly traced my o t one teen minutes ahead of our planned rendezvous.

    George arrived next, face flusion, ion, ting puffs of dust.

    quot;No luck?quot; I asked.

    quot;Do you t see a damn t ;

    I produced ttes and lit , similarly defeated. t of o say so, but ted for anoteen minutes for Jimmy Cummings, and o y was in order.

    At 9:30, George asked, quot;;

    tarry nig to bring flass. quot;Maybe we so w;

    Oscar refused. quot;No, someone s s a straig, dead on.quot;

    quot;Cmon, George, go ;

    o tanding position. quot;Lead on, Macduff.quot;

    Up trail, reetops and bouncing into t sky. Despite , George atic s over talkies, sense someto a surreal scene, ts, fire engines idling, dozens of people milling about. A man in a red baseball cap loaded a pair of bloodo tartled to see tess odee nurses uniform gloroking ed a dripping canoe to trapped it doterns emerged as if time stood still, and all could be seen at once. Firemen and policemen, to us, formed a ｔｐ://wwｗ.９９lｉｂ?nｅｔ</dfn>

    ted sloing ed reality, and told us carefully, quot;ell ... we ;